This Post Brought to You by Pregnancy Insomnia

"I can't wait til the baby's born so I can sleep again."

Filed under: Crazy things people with pregnancy insomnia say.

And it's really really true. The last two babies (and dear God, please with this one) I have slept so much better after the baby is born than before. Yes, you're waking up more BUT you can get right back to sleep when the nursing/changing/whatevering is done. Not so when you're pregnant and insomnia hits like clockwork at 1:30 or 2 a.m. most nights and NO MATTER HOW BONE TIRED YOU ARE you cannot get back to sleep and you toss and turn your massively large stomach over and over in bed thinking about the following extremely productive things:

-the babies that are probably crying somewhere and feeling sad for them

-the laundry sitting in the dryer because you were too tired to fold before bed

-the blog posts you'd like to write

-the people you're praying for

and so on and so forth…

I've been up since 3:30 a.m. and it is now nearing 6 p.m.

Pregnancy insomnia.

BUT in its defense, today I've at least gotten a whole lot of things done. Some days after a rough night, I'm pretty much a blob all day. Today was one of those times when I ended up finally giving up at around 4:45 a.m. and (after a self-pitying cry) by 7:30, I had baked four loaves of bread, folded all the laundry, caught up on email, bought a ceiling fan and curtain off Ebay, started washing all those baby clothes and two sets of sheets, and made breakfast.

By this evening I made three more loaves of bread (thanks to Rosie's recommended recipe), made a pot of soup (that totally failed…I will never succeed at lentils), brought down and organized all my birth supplies, taught the boys and got them through all their lessons, finished the baby clothes, washed two comforters, watched the boys through piano lessons, sold a wicker couch through Craigslist, began setting up the changing table, and figured out a new dinner all in time to get the boys off to baseball practice.

I mean, that's not the most productive day, but comparatively speaking to recent days and weeks, it was pretty darn good.

So I guess it has it's perks.

Want to know some other things that made me cry this pregnancy? Just for fun? Sure you do. It's fun to laugh at hormonal pregnant ladies (provided she's laughing with you…otherwise, I would offer a word of warning for your own protection ;) I've been keeping a list for your amusement and my records of crazy pregnant memories:

-We started singing the wrong verse of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" one evening during Advent.

-I was reading the ending of Jotham's Journey aloud to the boys. (It's very touching, okay?)

-There was a girl playing the piano really well at our co-op.

-I thought about soldiers.

-I was tired - crazy tired but didn't even realize it until I stopped moving - one evening out and my sister innocently asked me how I was doing. Like a giant two year old, I was.

-Every time I saw another batch of #prayforpaul photos and, of course, when he passed.

-I found out that my sister-in-law was pregnant! (Pray for her and her tiny little one, would you?)

-I watched a Parenthood episode. (Fine. Every time I watched a Parenthood episode.)

-My husband was about to make a joke about me eating too many Hershey's kisses.

-Every time someone came out for their final reveal at the Biggest Loser finale.

-I was receiving my ashes on Ash Wednesday.

-I thought about giving birth again.

-People cancelled party plans.

-During Confession

-I heard a story of a girl dying from cancer on the radio.

-I watched the opening scenes of Up.

-I saw the weather forecast predicting a full week of rain.

-My husband fell asleep faster than I did.

-I felt huge and ugly.

-My husband started rubbing my feet and it felt so. good.

So, yeah, the hormones are abundant in sleeplessness and tears around these parts.

And I'm not complaining, for real. I find great amusement over my own dramatics and know that I am truly truly blessed. This baby is such a gift. And this baby is so crazy active. Watching my stomach roll is weirdly fascinating and I love when the boys get to see it or feel it, too. I don't know if I'll ever be pregnant again. I've been through enough to know that we just never really do know what will happen or where God will lead our family and that each child is pure gift. So although this pregnancy has been crazy hard, I'm doing my best to remind myself what a blessing and gift it all is.

Because really, it all is…dramatic tears and sleepless nights included…it's all gift.

That is a LOT of things!!! Also, how are you cooking the lentils/what type are you using? I wing it with soup but generally use a similar recipe to Alton Brown's here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/lentil-soup-recipe.html#!

and I've never had issues...

Also, crying because your husband fell asleep first? That one made me laugh out loud :)

I don't know why lentils hate me! Seriously, this soup smelled so bad. I couldn't even bring myself to taste it and it's still sitting on our counter waiting to go out to the chickens. We'll see if they even will eat it :) I just used the red lentils.

I'll be praying for you now AND when you go through menopause because I cry at all those things too -- at 53. I've never quite been hard-hearted, but when I was pregnant I never cried at half the stuff I do now. I can't even sing at church any more. Maybe you'll be opposite -- I hope so. I really dislike not being in control of my emotions.

And as for your day -- I hope you slept well last night. I would have crashed by 10 am!

This post stirred many memories and made me laugh. When I was expecting Brian and Rick it was the years of the winter Olympics. I cried through the Hockey games both times whether they were winning or losing. They won the gold but some close calls. Funny thing is I don't even follow hockey! Many programs and even commercials would bring me to tears. I would suggest getting an afternoon nap in when you can but, after the mouse hanging in front of you when you opened your eyes, I don't think that would be possible.

Pretty much every kids movie has made me cry, but that's been pretty much a constant thing over the past two years because when I haven't been pregnant, I've been having crazy postpartum hormones or talking fertility treatment hormones. It's been dreadful. But, I definitely cry more about weird things when I'm actually pregnant. I could not stop bawling through Easter Mass (well, except for when Lucia had a nose bleed and I had to take her out to the bathroom) because I saw how packed the Church was (I mean, we built this huge new Church less than two years ago, there were tons of folding chairs brought in, tons of people standing and not even any more standing room available - it was INSANE) and I couldn't stop thinking about how many of them don't come to Mass every week and how much they are missed and how much they are missing out and OH MY GOODNESS, I could think of nothing sadder in this world. And truthfully, that's a pretty sad thing, but usually I wouldn't cry about it.

Ha, no I totally get it. Mass is always so emotional for me no matter what but when it's especially poignant, I'm a mess. My husband always knows what will trigger and looks over to see if I'm crying and tries not to laugh :)

I know you dabble in herbs and hippie stuff ;) ...have you tried skullcap for your insomnia? It's safe during pregnancy and is purported to turn off those incessive, rambling thoughts. I'm tincturing some to hopefully save myself some misery as my third trimester is looming. Might be worth looking into! :) Hang in there, Mama! Blessings, Stephanie

Thank you! I'll look into it. I tried a tincture of a combo of herbs at the beginning of this pregnancy from Wishgarden that is supposed to be just for this issue. I would try it again except that it was pretty expensive for the tiny jar and I didn't notice a massive difference…but maybe just the skullcap would be better!

Okay, I attempted to comment on this a while ago but smart phones aren't smart in some ways I guess... I'm so sorry about "all the feels" and pregnancy emotions! They really are intense, and I'm right there with you for my first pregnancy! No one told me I would be trading 9 months of a less emotional five days per month for 9 months straight of crying at EVERYTHING. Haha, but I have found that those meltdowns and cries somehow turn into funny memories once you're not in the thick of it anymore! I bet you'll be turning to this post later down the road and laughing at the memories (during the first part of my pregnancy a few months ago, I cried almost everyday about my feelings on the subject of food---talk about emotional). In the meantime, know you're in great company in the blogging community.I will keep you in my prayers! - Hannah S.

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